Plas Madoc Closure Decision Pushed Back

The final decision regarding the future of Plas Madoc Leisure Centre has been deferred until February.

The future of the leisure centre in Acrefair was set to be decided at the Council Executive Board on January 14th, however the public consultation period has now been extended until January 31st.

It was announced at the start of the week that the consultation period was to be extended after campaigners said there wasn’t enough time to respond.

The recommendation was due to go before the Council Executive Board next Tuesday, but has now been taken off this months report. The response will be discussed by a member workshop on February 4th, prior to going before the Executive Board on February 11th.

Speaking about the future of Plas Madoc, Council Leader Neil Rogers said ‘All options are open at the moment’.

In December councillors voted in favour of the closure and demolition of Plas Madoc and Waterworld leisure centres, with a possible replacement facility if and when finance is secure. The decision came as part of the Council’s on-going review of facilities in the town as they make budget cuts of nearly £14million for the next 12 months.

In the meeting, consultants ran through their findings of their leisure review in Wrexham. In an accompanying report to the meeting it states: “Plas Madoc is considered to have reached the end of its designed life and spending £1.7m on the recommended work is not considered good value for money.”

It is estimated that £857,000 could be saved by closing Plas Madoc and by handing back dual use leisure facilities to schools. However campaigners who are fighting to keep Plas Madoc and Waterworld open have said the scheme would only save £97,000 a year.

A protest outside Plas Madoc Leisure Centre is still set to take place at Midday on Saturday. The protest, which has been arranged by members of the Facebook page ‘Save Plas Madoc Leisure Centre’, is encouraging people to come dressed in sports gear and to ‘Make some noise’. More details about the planned protest can be found here.